I definitely agree with pre-tasting the drinks. There have been times I got distracted and forgot a key ingredient. As well, sometimes juices can be more or less bitter, thus affecting the finished cocktail.

My only question is if you are in the weeds with guests, does it make sense to have to rinse your pimp cup between tastings? I’m just thinking that this will eat up time which could be spent serving. Taking an extra 10 seconds to rinse your cup after every drink will add up considerably in an evening. Maybe going to a biodegradable straw?

Biodegradable or not, I would argue that this is still a “waste” of resource though a better option than plastic ones.

As far as being weeded, I don’t take the time to taste every drink and agree that it would slow up service: it’s just not practical. But, I do check every few drinks especially ones that I know have delicate proportions, or are new in the bar.

I usually store my pimp cup upside down, which takes care of the cleaning issue. If there is still some residual, I usually have a beer glass rinser/chiller right next to me that we use to clean our shakers which takes a fraction of a second to use. It takes all of 1 second to taste so I don’t feel that time is an issue. If you have time to taste with a straw, you have time to taste with a cup. I rather taste drinks that may be questionable than send out inconsistent product.
Obviously, if you are in a club, you are not tasting, but then again, people aren’t expecting you to either. And you don’t have to taste every drink, just the ones that could have issues, which usually equates to 75-100 drinks in a ten hour shift.

Can I just say it is such a pleasure to see you back on the air Jamie! Small Screen, the ol’ blog roll and especially your contributions sent me on my own whirlwind through cocktail bars all over the world to try and find out everything I could about bar-tending and bars. I’ve just opened my own bar in Melbourne and had a spare moment to get back to my education and there you have it! Something new I had totally overlooked.

Consider me educated again and I have just the right pimp cup for this too. Thanks again mate!

I love it when bartenders taste their creations, I feel like they really care about the quality. However, I have to say I’d feel like a little too much of my cocktail is be siphoned off if I see them constantly pouring some into their own cup. Have you had any negative responses from people?